Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus announced on Tuesday that Siya Kolisi has recovered from the hamstring injury he suffered against Argentina three weeks ago and will start against the All Blacks in Cape Town on Saturday.
The match kicks off at 17h10 SAST and will be broadcast live on SuperSport.
Erasmus also confirmed that the experienced Springbok flanker will lead the Boks out at DHL Stadium in the second Test of the Castle Double Malt Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series.
Kolisi will form a loose trio with Pieter-Steph du Toit, who was initially named as captain in the Test in which he will earn his 100th Test cap on Saturday, and No 8 Jasper Wiese. It also means that Paul de Villiers drops out of the matchday squad.
The Bok coach said handing the captaincy back to Kolisi was also partly attributed to reducing the pressure on Du Toit in terms of leading the team while he marks this remarkable career milestone.
“Siya will be starting and he will captain the team,” Erasmus told the media on Tuesday.
“It was a hamstring niggle, not something major like he had before 2019 or 2023. It was a grade two tear, and it takes a little time to recover, and that’s why we’ve been cautious.
“Last week it was touch and go, but we told him he had to run full out on Monday and he did so on Tuesday as well without any discomfort, so he’s good to go.”
Of the decision to hand over the captaincy to Kolisi, Erasmus said: “Pieter-Steph just took the captaincy for us on Monday so Siya could fully concentrate on his recovery and his work, and I had a chat with Pieter-Steph today and he agreed.
“In this match you probably don’t want captaincy responsibilities, with the 100 to think about, and on top of that needing to play well, so Siya is our captain.
“The 23 guys who played together against Argentina played really well, and it’s not just his game that is good, he’s a very inspirational person who means a lot to this team on and off the field.”
Having had time to reflect on last week’s result in Johannesburg and regroup on and off the field, Erasmus said: “When we reviewed the game on Monday, we felt we were very dominant throughout up until about the 60-minute mark, and we were just a bit inaccurate in a few departments.
“That’s what this week is for. Luckily in this competition we’ve still got three chances to keep going and get our game better.
“A lot of the things we asked the players to do, they did. The plan didn’t win the game for us, but it’s definitely also not the players who lost the game.
“I’m taking responsibility for some of the decisions we made. We’re a group, but I think it’s a relevant point to explain why we lost, and some of it falls more on me than on the players to be honest.”
Erasmus said although the Boks were still hurting from the defeat they have turned their focus to this weekend’s match, and that as always, the key was to make the country proud.
“I’m definitely nervous again,” he said. “We’re one game down, and if we don’t win this game, we can’t win the series, we can only draw it. Nerves are there for sure. But we’ve been under this kind of pressure a lot, and hopefully we can turn things around this weekend.”
Du Toit and Nche earn milestones in second RGR Test
Meanwhile, Boks utility forward Pieter-Steph du Toit will mark the significant achievement of becoming the 11th player in Bok history to earn 100 Test caps, while prop Ox Nche will join the club of players to earn 50 caps on Saturday.
Erasmus named a similar starting XV to the one that lined up against the All Blacks in Johannesburg last week, with the only changes seeing Siya Kolisi bracketed alongside Paul de Villiers at flanker, while Handre Pollard and Cobus Reinach will start as the halfback pairing, and Ethan Hooker takes over from Cheslin Kolbe on the wing after he picked up a niggle in the first Test.
Springbok team to face the All Blacks in Cape Town:
15 Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers) – 53 caps, 76 pts (8t, 9c, 4p, 2dg)
14 Kurt-Lee Arendse (Mitsubishi Dynaboars) – 33 caps, 125 pts (25t)
13 Jesse Kriel (Canon Eagles) – 91 caps, 115 pts (23t)
12 Damian de Allende (Wild Knights) – 100 caps, 55 pts (11t)
11 Ethan Hooker (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 10 caps, 10 pts (2t)
10 Handre Pollard (Vodacom Bulls) – 87 caps, 832 pts (8t, 130 c, 175 p, 5dg)
9 Cobus Reinach (DHL Stormers) – 54 caps, 100 pts (20t)
8 Jasper Wiese (Urayasu D-Rocks) – 46 caps, 20 pts (4t)
7 Pieter-Steph du Toit (captain, Toyota Verblitz) – 99 caps, 70 pts (14t)
6 Siya Kolisi (DHL Stormers) – 104 caps, 70 pts (14t) / Paul de Villiers (DHL Stormers) – 4 cap, 5 pts (1t)
5 Ruan Nortje (Kubota Spears) – 21 caps, 5 pts (1t)
4 Eben Etzebeth (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 143 caps, 45 pts (9t)
3 Wilco Louw (DHL Stormers) – 32 caps, 10 pts (2t)
2 Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 90 caps, 135 pts (27t)
1 Ox Nche (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 49 caps, 0 pts
Replacements:
16 Deon Fourie (DHL Stormers) – 13 caps, 10 pts (2t)
17 Gerhard Steenekamp (Vodacom Bulls) – 20 caps, 10 pts (2t)
18 Thomas du Toit (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 34 caps, 10 pts (2t)
19 Lood de Jager (Wild Knights) – 74 caps, 25 pts (5t)
20 Andre Esterhuizen (Hollywoodbets Sharks) – 32 caps, 30 pts (6t)
21 Cameron Hanekom (Vodacom Bulls) – 3 caps, 5 pts (1t)
22 Morne van den Berg (10bet Lions) – 7 caps, 25 pts (5t)
23 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu (DHL Stormers) – 21 caps, 177 pts (9t, 45c, 14p)
Stats and facts:
Springbok record against New Zealand:
Played: 111, Won: 43, Lost: 64, Drawn: 4. Points for: 1 866; Points against: 2 302; Tries scored: 182; Tries conceded: 253. Win %: 37,7%.
Miscellaneous:
- Pieter-Steph du Toit will become the 11th player in Springbok history to feature in 100 Tests on Saturday after making his international debut against Wales in 2013. He will also be the second player in as many weeks to achieve this significant milestone after Damian de Allende earned his 100th last weekend.
- Prop Ox Nche will join the select club of players who have played 50 Tests.
- Eben Etzebeth will extend his record as the most capped Springbok player of all time to 144 caps.
- Should he take the field, Deon Fourie will become the oldest Springbok player to play in a Test match at 39 years old, surpassing Victor Matfield and Schalk Brits who were 38 years old in their last Test matches.
- This game will mark Fourie’s first game back since the RWC final in France, which also happened to be against the All Blacks, with the Boks winning the match 12-11 to lift the trophy.
- The last time the Springboks met the All Blacks in Cape Town was in the Castle Lager Rugby Championship in 2024, with the Boks winning the match 18-12.
- The Castle Lager Double Malt Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry series marks the first time since 1996 that the All Blacks have embarked on a traditional rugby tour to South Africa.
- The Springboks have won five of the last seven matches between the teams dating back to August 2023.
- With Kolisi starting, the total Test caps in the Springbok starting line-up is 1012 – the highest ever fielded by South Africa.**** There are 428 caps in the backline, with 584 caps among the forwards. On the bench, there are a further 204 caps.
- The average caps per player in the backline is 61, the forwards 73, while the players on the bench average 26.
SOURCE: SA RUGBY
